Page 12 of Grayson

Almost three hours later I am spinning her chair around and watching her reaction as she takes it all in.

Luanne Stanley reminds me a lot of myself. She puts everyone ahead of herself. I enjoy seeing others happy, I thrive on being the one that can provide such happiness. I love to see the smile on a woman’s face after I’ve given my all to provide what they want or the closest I can get to it.

The moment she sees her reflection her eyes light up and for the first time since she arrived, I see a true genuine smile.

Luann is an only child to Elmer and Georgia Stanley from Michigan. They’d never intended to have any children, but one day when they were both well into their forties, they were offered a surprise. Nine months later Luann arrived.

She grew up in a small town, both of her parents being introverts, there was never many activities done outside of their home. When she decided to go out of state for college, she met her husband Jim who is four years older than her.

He is a pharmacist, her a third-grade teacher and they both wanted to fill their home with lots of laughter and chaos.

Isabella, born only three and a half months ago would be the start to that dream. She’d spent the last several hours telling me all about her journey to happiness and I’ll admit, I’m a little envious of Luann.

“It’s perfect.” She lifts her hands and carefully combs her fingers through her chestnut locks. “I don’t think my hair has ever felt so soft.” She is in awe which makes my stomach feel as though it is taken over by a million little butterflies.

“I needed this,” she confesses as her eyes fill with unshed tears. “I love my baby, so much,” Luann takes in a deep breath, “but I have not felt human in months.”

“Well, you look gorgeous.” Viv leans over and offers Luann a smile. “Your husband isn’t gonna know what hit him.” She places her hand on her shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. “You have to take care of you, so that when you go home to the people you love the most, they get the best part of you. It’s important that you love yourself too.”

Luann takes another calming breath and nods her head, agreeing to the words Vivian has offered her.

I know what it’s like to forget that what you want matters too. I’ve been guilty of that since the first day Tori became my full responsibility. My biggest fear from day one was that I’d mess everything up. I could never be my mother. The kind of woman that raised both Tori and me with breakfast on the table every morning by seven, dinner by five forty-five, and she did everything with a smile.

On most days I wake up fearful that I did something the day before that will somehow turn Tori into the worst possible version of herself.

“A large iced coffee with four French vanilla swirls, please.” I offer my phone to the young girl and she scans the barcode. Stepping back out of the way, I wait as I start scrolling my phone.

“Skye.” I glance up to see Scarlett entering Dunkin’ with another woman at her side. “I thought that was you.” Quickly she moves in and offers me a hug.

“Hi.” I still don’t know her all that well. But when you spend a night laughing at everything over an excessive amount of margaritas, sharing way too much about yourself, it sort of changes things.

“Mom,” she says, turning quickly to the woman at her side. “This is Skye, the one I told you about that lives next to Gray.”

At the mention of his name my pulse quickens.

“Nice to meet you.” She holds out her hand and I don’t miss the sideways glance that she gives her daughter. The corner of her mouth tips upward like the two of them are sharing some kind of secret.

“I’ll let you two chat while I go order our drinks.” With that her mother walks away and leaves the two of us alone.

“Am I missing something?” I waste no time asking.

“I mentioned you, Vivian and our night to my mother. I may have brought up how your cheeks got a little pink when we were talking about him.”

I stare at her doing everything I can not to react.

“If there is anyone that would like to see Gray with someone good more than me, it’s my mom.”

“I don’t?—”

“I know.” She waves her hand. “You don’t think of him that way.” Her sarcasm was so obvious. “But if you ever did, you should know, he’s actually a pretty great guy.”

Scarlett doesn’t give me the chance to say more. Instead she gives me another side hug, before walking away to meet her mother.

After my name is called, I grab my coffee and give them both a little wave before stepping outside.

Taking a calming breath, I set off back to the salon for my afternoon appointments.

9

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